Friday, January 18, 2013

The Venti Project

'What is the Venti project?' I hear you asking yourself. 'It sounds totally made up.'How judgmental of you. Also, it is made up.Venti is 20 in Italian. It's also the size of the largest cup at Starbucks, the 20oz one. I may or may not have ordered more than a few ventis in my life. I definitely have.I decided that I needed to stash some cash away for Christmas. I always have intentions of doing this every year, but for some reason, the cash always gets used for something else which means I have to budget like a madwoman to find the extra money for Christmas. "NO MORE!" I screamed out loud, frightening the nice lady next to me at Walmart.I got a photo box for $1 at Michaels and brought it home. I used my craft knife to cut a tiny slit above the label holder, big enough for dollars to slip through.

Then, I glued the top on. That's right, I glued the sucker shut.

I used my Silhouette to pretty it up a bit...

So, here's my plan: Every payday, I'll take $20 out of the bank in cash and shove it in the box. If I do it right away, I can budget like it doesn't even exist. Hopefully, by Thanksgiving when I plan on cracking this sucker open, I'll have a few bucks to use for Christmas shopping.Also, the family is excited about how we should bust it open. They're a destructive lot, to be sure.The Venti Project begins.

So I realize it's no where near as pretty (and I'm fairly certain using a knife would land you in jail) but what about just having $20 auto deducted from your paycheck each week? I think it would have some positive effect on your taxes too. Or not. Not sure but that's way less work in my book & I'm all about doing less. You could always use your box for things you think but can't say out loud. Then you could drink a little too much one night & crack that puppy open. That might be fun... ~ Dee

What a great idea. I love that this savings idea involves cash...that can't be gotten until it's time to start shopping. And, I love that your family is already planning on how to break into it, when the time comes.

Such a good idea. I love Christmas decor, hehe! I bet, youg guys won't even notice that the $20 is missing over time and once you open up the box it will be such a surprise! I found your blog on the blog hop!

GREAT idea!!! I encourage you to try for > $20 some pay periods when/if you can --- that is how I managed to pay off my mortgage > 10 years ahead of "schedule" --- I just wish I was that disciplined with LESS food intake. Mary 8-D

Great idea! I pick up things on sale througout the year and stash them away but this year I wanted to save $20 per paycheck to set aside for shopping between Thanksgiving and Christmas in addition to shopping sales throughout the year. My husband watches our bank account like a hawk (he's actually our banker so he literally looks at our account all day every day) and he's so frugal he wouldn't approve of me setting aside money AND buying things througout the year. He apparently still believes in Santa because he doesn't give one millisecond of a thought as to how all the presents end up under the tree every year even though he doesn't see huge chunks come out of the account when I do my Christmas shopping. It's hard work on my part! So, this year I decided I'd start taking $20 out right away and putting it aside but I was wondering where I'd "hide" it and you've given me the perfect idea. Thank you!!